THE PERFECT SNARE DRUM

Now let’s get cracking and take a closer look at the kick drum’s constant companion, the snare

The snare drum is huge! Not that it’s ever been unimportant in the grand drumming scheme of things, but the rise of several forms of dance music has seen more attention focused on the snare than at any time since the massive T’pau-style extremes of the late 80s. In the real world, the snare drum is the one placed between the drummer’s legs, with a band of sprung wires stretched across the bottom head to give it its unique crack and sizzle. Add to that some lively resonance from the top skin and you have an instrument that’s capable of producing a huge variety of sounds, from the warm, deep ‘doosh’ of the 70s to the high ‘ping’ of nu-metal, and everything in between.

In terms of rhythm, the snare generally emphasises beats 2 and 4 of the 4/4 bar. In combination with the kick drum, it gives us the ‘kick, snare, kick, snare’ pattern known as the ‘backbeat’ – that most enduring staple of rock and pop. Given a chance, however, the snare can also be waaay busier than that – in jazz, rockabilly or drum ’n’ bass, for example.

When mixing, it’s said that the last two things you should be able to hear when you gradually turn a mix down are the vocal and snare drum. This shows how important the snare is in the mix: the element that joins the backing track with the vocal. Careful placement of it helps define the soundstage on which your whole mix happens.